Christian UC: Unassisted Childbirth

The Unassisted Birth of Will

The birth of our third child was a very peaceful, wonderful time. I was 6 days past the date I had determined baby would probably be born. I had been having prodromal labor and Braxton-Hicks for weeks. On Friday I got up and took our girls to the library for story hour, we had lunch with Tom and then did some errands and grocery shopping. It was a usual Friday for us. I didn't have any more contractions than usual and just carried on with life as usual. That night I wasn't able to fall asleep very easily so I stayed up watching TV and working on the baby blanket I've been cross-stitching. Around 2am I finally got to sleep and slept comfortably until around 3:45 when I awoke with what I thought was a painfully full bladder. I went to the toilet and then became more aware and realized that I had had at least a few strong contractions while sleeping. I wiped and then stared dazedly at the paper streaked with blood. I had been waiting for my plug to come as that is how my first two labors had started. I was so e

Contractions kicked in right away at about 5min apart. I went to the kitchen and made the jello I had been saving for labor. I snacked on some fresh green beans and cucumber slices from the garden. After a while I went back to our room and did some pelvic tilts and swayed around a bit. Then I lit some candles in the bedroom and bathroom and lay down to rest for a little. My husband Tom woke up as I was getting into bed and asked what was going on, I said "Well, I am in labor". "Does that mean I am going to have a new baby soon?" he asks. I told him I hoped so and we rested, this was around 5am. I continued to contract regularly and would breathe/moan through them making sure not to clench my jaw.

I woke Tom around 5:30 and asked him to clean and fill our bathtub. I got in around 6am and the water felt great - contractions continued nice and strong. Around 7am my girls came in to say good morning and I told them that our baby would be born soon. They were both very excited and Heather looked around in the water for some sign of it. I had Tom get me a bowl of cereal and I continued snacking on the veggies, water, and drinking my pregnancy tea. I continued to slowly lose the plug and have steady contractions.

Around 10:30am I got out of the tub as things had slowed a bit. I lay down in our bed and reminded Tom to take bottles out to our baby goats for breakfast. I dozed between contractions and then got up on hands and knees when they came. I would switch which side I was laying on after each contraction. At 11am my sisters arrived to help out with the kids and be there for the birth. They came in to say hello and I had them warm up some rice socks for my back.

At 1pm Tom had a quick meeting to attend down the road. I told him I was fine with him going and he left a 2-way radio if we needed him. As soon as the door closed things hit a little stronger. Contractions were slowing to like 10min apart but were really quite strong. I get a little louder with my moaning and start to rock back and forth on hands and knees with contractions. I asked Amanda to bring me a bagel to eat. Heather and Rose were napping during this time.

At 2:30pm Tom gets home and checks in on me. I decided to get back into the tub so we warmed it up. I had him bring me some jello and sliced strawberries. Contractions get more intense and I start saying "open" with a very open mouth during the peak of contractions. I change positions frequently. I start talking to baby and encouraging it to come out. At 3:30pm sister Amanda leaves to go to work. Heather and Rose wander in every now and then and Heather would always try to look under me into the water to see if the baby was out yet. They watched videos and played with their Uncle J during most of the day, it worked out very well.

Around 5:30pm transition hits. Contractions are still quite far apart but are very hard. My legs start cramping up and I tell hubby I want an even bigger tub by the next baby! I start to bear down just a tiny bit while pressing on the side of tub with my hands in order to handle the contractions better. I start praying. I was feeling like I was nearing the end, but my last two labors had been 30 hours and 4 days respectively and I couldn't believe that I may actually be close to done. I was praying that if I had a lot of time left, God would please give me the strength to continue. I knew in the back of my mind that this was probably transition, but I was afraid to listen to myself. At 6:30pm Amanda was able to get off work early and come back, she stopped in to say hello and ask how I was doing. I just looked at her and said I was tired and it was getting very hard.

At 8pm I feel a pop while changing positions. I stand up slightly to see if my water had really broken but couldn't tell since I was in the tub - there was no discoloration. I felt inside and could feel a circle of the baby's head. Tom wandered in and I told him what had happened. I had a slight break with no contractions and then another one hit as Tom was walking out the door. I yelled for Tom to come back and I said "I need you - I have to push, I can't stop - It hurts!" I was so overwhelmed by how intense the need was. I felt inside again and felt the head but then thought I felt my cervix closed around it! I later realized that what I felt was his mouth, hee hee. When that contraction ended I told Tom to get Amanda and Angela so they could see the birth. While he was gone I lean back on the wall of the tub and all of a sudden hear sizzling and smell burning hair! I had surrounded the tub with candles and forgotten about them - I got mad and threw it into the water. They come in and another overwhelming

Our girls Heather and Rose had been in bed for just a half hour and we had wanted them to see the birth, but since it happened so quickly we didn't get them until right after. They wandered in and Heather says "It's my baby brother!". Rose tells me that baby needs a blanky and then to all of our surprise runs off to get her own treasured blanky and then tries to throw it in the tub with us!

The placenta came about 10min after baby, then I got out of the tub and waddled to our bed where we lay down and he decided to nurse. We cut the cord about 2 hours later and there was just a bit of blood so we tied it with braided embroidery floss just to be sure it didn't bleed more. We weighed baby after cutting cord and were surprised that he is 10lbs - he looks smaller than that to us, probably because our last was ½" shorter and 1 1/2lbs heavier. The next day we bathed him and measured him at 20 ½" long. The time of birth we are estimating at 8:30pm. It was my shortest labor yet at 17 hours! We named our baby boy Thomas William Sullivan, Jr. and are calling him "Will". He is beautiful with black hair and very dark eyes. He is a very happy baby, nurses well and if he is unhappy about something will just let out a little holler and wait to be picked up.

I didn't have any tears to my surprise (I never have torn, but he came so fast I was sure I would this time). I am healing up really well and feel great besides a tired back if I stand too long. Bleeding has slowed way down already at 3days after birth. I canned 6 quarts of tomatoes today since everything in the garden decided to ripen over the weekend! Tom took a week off to be home with us but keeps asking why he stayed home since I won't let him do anything. It is nice to have him home and he and baby are bonding more than he has been able to with the girls.

We are thankful to God for the blessing of our little son and the peaceful, wonderful birth that brought him into this world. The whole family has adjusted to the newest member extremely well and we are just thrilled with all of God's provisions.

Thomas & Amber Sullivan

Heather, 12/3/1997 planned homebirth with CNM ending in hospital transport
Rose, 6/13/2000 UC
Will, 7/27/2002 UC

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